The Art of Knowledge
Away
I will be away for the extended weekend. You guys that have permission, please feel free to keep on putting information here. When I get back we are pruchasing the full version of blogger that will alow us to have RSS and XML. Cheers!
Link posted by JVMM : 11:46 AM
Core values
This is from the marketing company website that I am looking at, and is a list of their core principles, which I think are directly applicable (almost startlingly so) with the goals we always talk about setting for adult learners/knowledge workers. I'll just list the principles, rather than the full descriptions:
I mean, they need some basic revision, but they are real close
Link posted by Anonymous : 12:17 AM
Dude, turn on the Title bar option
bret, i was just thinking that if you really want to get in the know about knowledge management, you should be spending your time looking at google and search engine companies and shit, because their whole deal is managing knowledge. but they are actually doing stuff, and dont spend all day writing white papers and making up gay acronyms.
google just bought blogger for a reason, you know. take a look at what tools people are really using to do this shit - real people - not KM monkeys. look at how regular people are interacting differently with knowledge now than they were five years ago, or five months ago. look at the tools and trends that are popular and why.
from what I've seen, none of the KM guys are onto anything at all. All of their thinking is between 5 & 10 years old. they are grappling with how to implement old models that people already take for granted and use in their every day lives now
Link posted by Anonymous : 11:03 PM
Deep
The info, the presentation, the entire thing is just deep. I'm sure you guys have already seen this. But it uses Breeze and it gives you a bunch of other leads into cool stuff.
Link posted by JVMM : 9:05 PM
Scary Halloween Stats For You
This comes from an Article by:Dave Pollard. The document can be found here.
What sort of effect does this have on e-learning?
Does e-learning take the place of a lot of these initiatives and funds?
What did we learn?
"Peter Drucker's assertion that the greatest challenge to business management in the 21st century is, and will be, improving the personal productivity and effectiveness of front-line workers doing increasingly complex and unique jobs. " ---True
"Knowledge is most effectively and efficiently conveyed to front-line workers by other front-line workers or outside experts, one-on-one, just-in-time, and in the context of solving a specific business problem. " ---Retaining that knowledge from that p-to-p conversation is a nice goal.
"Front-line workers have a large array of tools and technologies at their disposal, but rarely know how to use these tools and technologies competently, and when they do, they often find that these tools and technologies force them to think and work in ways that are not intuitive to them, interfering with rather than helping their work effectiveness." -- Teach them tools/Language and their job becomes easier. That reminds me of the T&B graph.
This article also makes a good reference to how blogs can be used to solve real time information problems. Blogs = Enterprise Architecture more than I think it does.
Link posted by JVMM : 8:55 PM
Making it Applicable
Here is pretty good article that I found on Dusk to Dawn. It addresses the gap between the Behavioral sciences and their ability to apply their critiques.
- Science is mostly analyzing. Engineering is doing. The difference between these two is profound, and it affects not only the way that your knowledge is applied, but even the culture of the workplace. Working for a company is very different than working for a university: the reward system is different, the role of criticism is different, and the value of group efforts is different.
In academia, we teach how to critique: to analyze a published study and find the flaws. We are superb at finding flaws. We are also superb at doing carefully controlled studies that minimize biases of all sorts, that are able to detect subtle differences. Problem is, these studies take months to perform, and they are designed for subtleties. Individual creativity is valued, and the reward system encourages publications, with concern about the order in which a person's name is listed as author
I thought his article would really take off after it's initial hypotheses but it read more like a resume than a paper.
Link posted by JVMM : 8:27 PM
Entreprise Architecture
Apparently there was another conference I missed in early September.
Overview -
- Government agencies face a renewed mandate to develop agency-wide enterprise architectures to improve planning and better understand the impact of technology investments on their overall agency operations. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) currently is requiring agencies to define their enterprise architectures within the scope defined by OMB’s Federal Enterprise Architecture Office to ensure agency programs receive GFY 2004 funding. By implementing the FEA approach, agencies are expected to achieve greater internal efficiencies, streamline business operations, and improve inter-agency collaboration.
This NEW event focuses entirely on the implementation of initiatives within the public sector and is structured to encourage information exchange and networking among professionals who are exploring, planning, and implementing Enterprise Architecture programs. Conference attendees will include senior managers and professionals from across government, agency and industry executives, government technologists, and their industry partners.
Basically everything has to be XML'd and if you are going to be a major player to Gov't agencies then you have to get on the EA ball if you want a piece of the new pie. I'm pretty sure Homeland Secuirty has a heavy hand in all of this.
Here's the advisory Board - All the companies who get their checks signed from tax payers -
Ab Initio Software Corporation
Artemis International Solutions Corporation
Blueprint Technologies, Inc.
BMC Software
Booz Allen Hamilton
Borland Software Corporation
Enterprise Integration Corporation
FEAC Institute
HandySoft Corporation
Headstrong Public Sector
Hewlett-Packard
HyPerformix, Inc.
ICF Consulting
Intalio, Inc.
LEADS Corporation
Lockheed Martin IT
MapInfo
mGen, Inc.
Microsoft Corporation
Open Text Corporation
PeopleSoft
Pinkerton Computer Consultants, Inc. (PCCI)
Popkin Software and Systems, Inc.
SAP Public Services, Inc.
SRA International
Thomas & Herbert Consulting LLC
Visual Mining
You'll notice that some of these companies were also involved in the OCt 17th e-learning conference. Hand in hand.
Link posted by JVMM : 4:30 PM
What About SCANS?
Does anybody still use the Arnie Packer technology started at Hopkins. Below is some information on SCANS for those of you who may not know how it is different from Blooms Taxonomy.
Apparently there isn't much out there considering scans200.org got shut down. I know the technology got bought by ThinQ in 2000 but I figured the initiative would still be alive and in the higher education sector. It stemmed form this program at Hopkins here in Baltimore.
Form the ThinQ website
- JHU's SCANS 2000 Career Transcript System technology and other SCANS training products will be incorporated into the THINQ TrainingServer/LMS to provide an online tool for communities to encourage individuals within those communities to gain the skills they need to fill key positions in the local job market.
The SCANS 2000 Computer Based Training (CBT) courses offer essential soft skill topics that THINQ can launch and track through the TrainingServer LMS. The Career Transcript System and CBT programs were built in response to communities everywhere trying to attract quality employers and provide skilled workers to populate those organizations. Now members of the community can document their existing skills, access training to help win jobs and promotions within their own towns, and document progress and skills enhancement throughout their careers.
"This project will provide a pipeline of qualified workers to a market where there is an acute labor shortage," said Dr. Arnie Packer
SCANS had this great system of building on rudimentary skills in order to gain proficiencies in certain areas needed for employment within the new economy.
Here's an explanation of Blooms Taxonomy.
- "What is going to happen eventually is that, just like certain certificates are accepted by employers now, the teamwork certificate, or the teamwork part of the transcript, is going to be just as accepted, so that employers will know, 'When I hire people with this certificate, they work out on the job,'" Jaffee said.
Apparently people are simplifying SCANS down to a lifelong process of tracking skills and achieving certifications in areas such as"team work" and "goal achieving". This wasn't what perked my eye brows when I first saw this almost 2 years ago. What sparked me was the way in which the certifications were met. The step by step process and how it differed from Blooms Taxonomy. Anyway...it looks like it's buried or bought and now incorporated under a new "currently being branded" name.
Link posted by JVMM : 1:15 PM
Errors You Say?
It may be true that I don't have a total grasp on every piece of information out there. I received some rebuttals to my posts. I appreciate the heads up from people that are obviously more versed in the industry than I am. Now don't think I will simply let this slide. I still feel in some way I had some sort of right and grounded info in my original statements. I plan to find the info to support them....Thanks for your help
My error - Apparently SCORMS has little to do with being a combination of skills and data repositories. It is more or less a, "aggregation of e-Learning standards from across the industry, including the AICC, IEEE-LTSC, IMS, and others". I really don't know what that means.
I don't understand how it could not be DoD specific though ( "The SCORM adds very little that is "new", and nothing that is DoD specific " ). If the DoD is doing the most development, how could it not be DoD specific? I mean if ThinQ is using it for their Navy contract and they are trying to implement SCORM technology. Wouldn't that make is centric to the DoD. I'll read more today.
"Multiple SCORMs would go against the very tenant of the SCORM which is interoperability." I agree with that even if I don't totally know what it means.
Cheers Gord for helping me out!
Link posted by JVMM : 11:16 AM
Give Me Your Suggestion
I also got this from e-learning Eclectic. He got it from Jay Cross .
- "School classes and corporate training would be more effective were learners initially told 'This is our best thinking. It might be wrong. How do you see it?' That's a meta-learning tactic that would improve results without adding costs. You could preface all eLearning with a reminder that learners should look for ways to improve the content, drop thoughts in the electronic suggestion box, and that they organization is always on the lookout for ways to improve its service. Positioning a learning event as inquiry instead a recounting of someone else's truth puts a touch of humanity back into eLearning that's often sterile."
The idea of the metadata repository isn't new. It's been around forever. Customer(students) feed back has been around forever. If you have worked retail you'll notice there is a box looking for your feedback. Usually these are often laughed at over in the lunch room by the janitorial staff and bittered sales people. Unfortunately, the upper management and people who actually care about their store want these things like they want to sell warranties on dishwashers. Direct feedback is invaluable. The trick is how to get people to actually give the feedback, and make sure that feedback is valid. There is only one answer for that in my mind, "Make your customers trust and need the product." If they have those two things I think you will find your feedback coming back in trump suits.
BTW - No one wants to drop anything into an electronic suggestion box. That's a really horrible name for an interactive feedback repository.
Link posted by JVMM : 11:44 PM
300 Games You Should Know
Apparently if you want to be a wizard, and tell me this isn't the hottest trend, you need to first understand these video games. I really want to see more about what's going on with the video game industry. Man there is a real pit of knowledge out there that I never knew existed. This is so exciting. I thought it was just Tim and I with a white board somewhere. Nope there are a ton of idealist out there. Wonderful!
Wait a minute
- "Since the digital games revolution began, starry-eyed twits have been going on and on about how games will change education and lead us all down a future glorious path in which everyone learns everything because it's fun to do so. This is, of course, nonsense, and always will be, since creating something interactive =and fun= is bloody hard enough, and insisting that the result should also cram some facts into people's heads is enough to turn 'bloody hard' into 'well nigh impossible.' "
I don't agree with this at all. Without reading enough on the topic I will decline from making a technical evaluation and instead will go with my gut. I do believe that learning via interactive media (call it video games, flash, whatever is next) is the best way to take information in. Gearing information around interactive, goal oriented, problem solving situations that have a direct outcome to the task you are trying to fulfill seems to be an enlightened much awaited way of doing things. How can that be wrong or even slightly askew? I don't like to hear that it is, "bloody hard...near impossible" .
That's not the answer I was looking for. If you are going to be a cynic at least pick it a part from it's roots and not from your own inability to encapsulate what it is you are trying to understand. I think it is possible and is being done on many levels. I can only imagine that if the curriculum in school were centered around abilities to solve problems the same way video game let you unlock certain problem solving abilities than children would be learning at a much higher level. Making this fun is hard. Making the programs motivating, challenging, and meaningful is difficult. Is it the entire answer? Absolutely not. Is it part of what has been missing from letting people really use all aspects of their brain? I say yes. Let me ask you if you would want to learn from something that is fun or something that is boring? Now fun doesn't mean easy. Training for a sport isn't easy. Beating Zelda isn't easy. But the principles and lessons learned from those things are valuable and I think combined with the right information, skills, and eventual goals it can open a world of exponential learning. Just don't quit on the idea because you find it difficult.
BTW this all came from this site. It has a nice design and some cool ittle features. This is also on my side nav under "e-Learning Eclectic"
Link posted by JVMM : 11:17 PM
SCORMS Plural?
This guy has a s good rant about SCORM. I'm going to write him an email and see what he is up to.
- " The very notion that there can be a Shareable Content Object Reference Model for learning objects would seem to suggest that there can be more than one. What's relevant to the US Department of Defense in terms of e-learning is unlikely to be relevant to, say, training doctors. There's an a priori assumption made by many that one size fits all. "
Hmm...The DoD isn't designing the only SCORM it's designing the prototype that everyone else will use. The proto may be that dynamic that it will fit all industries. The point of the SCORM isn't the actual objects themselves. It's more or less the skills tracking and the repository. It's still a good point but I think he is envisioning the DoD as making this for only the branches of the military. We forget sometimes that all the jobs we see in the private world are already in the military world. I love how everyone is waiting with hushed anticipation to see what they come up with.
"The ISD (Instructional Systems Design) model survived for thirty-plus years because it took a systems approach to solving problems and didn't offer a standard answer to everything. ISD offers a toolkit for building tailored solutions. SCORM is a specification for solving a problem that existed at one time for DoD. "
Another good point. But I think that the DoD project isn't necessarily trying to give specific answers for specific tasks as it is trying to let the user search the answers in the best way. It simplifies the art of retrieving answers as opposed to assuming that it has the answers. The Database that has the data to be mined is constantly growing and becoming dynamic just like a search engine.
I like how he doesn't totally toe the line as if every corporation were reading his blog or as if he were trying to sell white papers. I've seen a ton of that today. People making good opening thesis statements and then saying, "That will be $750 please". This guy's blog is real good. It just made the side nav. Congrats to you for being the first unstuffy thing I read all day.
Link posted by JVMM : 10:56 PM
I Can't Believe I Missed This
I missed the E-Learning Conference in D.C. on the 17th.
Main Topics/Keynotes
- Driving E-Learning Success: Practical Applications and Lessons Learned
- The Changing Role of Training and What We Do About It
- "...challenge attendees to think about how, as learning professionals within government agencies can, like those in the private sector, redefine E-Learning and play a substantive role at the Information Technology table during this new age of integrating learning resources into the work context. "
- Fast Forward: Emerging Learning Technology Trends in the Government
- "...unique forms that have emerged in the government such as AI-based products, federated simulation networks and asymmetric collaboration. These new technologies are "trickling down" into the greater market and are altering the landscape of learning technology."
- Reusable Learning Objects and Custom Content Development
- "...provide a guideline for instructional designers on the types of content that are appropriate for various learning requirements. Panelists will discuss how to design E-Learning content so that it can be reused, with various viewpoints on the application of reusable versus disposable learning objects."
- Effective Blended Learning Environments
- I'm not a huge advocate of blended learning. That seems like the band-aid approach to me. Obviously learning needs to be dynamic but when we start talking about "off the shelf software" and classroom training combined with Power Point and Flash, my ears just start buzzing and I instinctively cross my legs and go into a defensive pose.
- Application of Technology for Dynamic E-Learning Infrastructures
- "focus on how three federal agencies are incorporating technology into their E-Learning architectures, and the lessons they have learned during the evaluation, selection, and implementation process. From the U.S. Air Force to the National Institute of Corrections, learn how technology is being employed to match training objectives with diverse audiences. " I would have enjoyed this lecture given my propensity for understanding technology more than e-learning agendas right now. It's not necessarily the role I wish to play within changing the way knowledge is accrued and learning is learned, it's the idea of supporting the greater good.
- Developing SCORM-Conformant Courseware
- The Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) is used in technology-enabled learning across federal and state
government agencies. - E-Learning Evaluation and Assessment: Practical Examples
- I would have skipped this one. You guys know how much I love the evaluation and assessment part of learning. Actually that would have been a good reason to go. I think the answers to the problems need to be evolved before the assessment can really be taken into consideration. Why give me a taste test on a raw piece of hamburger? At least wait until it's cooked.
- E-Learning Delivery Options -- Technology at Work
- "The panelists will discuss several methods for delivering educational content, including how the Department of Veterans Affairs Learning University (VALU) employs existing digital satellite broadcast infrastructure to deliver live and on-demand content directly to 225,000 employee desktops. Another readily available alternative for agencies to enhance E-Learning is videoconferencing. " This summary really struck a chord with me. They were talking about video conferencing and Power Point. That doesn't really feel like technology initiatives to me. That seems more like ingenuity halted at the gates of "Need it now".
- Gov Online Learning Center -- Lessons Learned to Date
- "...in July, 2002 to offer Federal employees with a single-point-of-access for robust, high-quality online training..... Review the critical components to deploying a successful enterprise learning program, including how to build internal partnerships, defend a business case, integrate budget with capital asset plans, and align programs with agency missions and workforce demands."
- Developing New Teaching Tools and EL Frameworks
- "...are increasingly looking to "retool" themselves as online instructors (or human performance technologists), to better integrate their full courseware libraries (web-based and non-web-based training) and to learn how to best select the appropriate delivery medium..." Sounds like teachers trying to retool themselves so they don't become antiquated. Sadly I doubt if many educators actually showed. Side note - I find that hardcore educators are not the one's interested in this initially. It's the corporations looking to make money. Band-aids and off the shelf software are abundant and that's why. Come on educators! Stop letting the software companies push you around.
#3 is probably the one I would have wanted to attend the most. I don't think the corporate sector has the funding or the time to really address the changes needed in this area. I think the Governments slow beaurocratic methods and resources can actually be the best way to go. A complete upheaval is needed. What we don't need is another acronym and a band-aid. We need to address real issues within learning, not just taking someone's manual and dousing it with XML and then giving them alerts on what to read followed by a quiz. Hands on real life learning preceded by technology that transports the pursuit of knowledge into everyday goals.
Representatives -
Blackboard, Inc.
C2 Technologies, Inc.
Development InfoStructure - devIS
Docent, Inc.
FEAC Institute
GeoLearning, Inc.
GP e-Learning
Haverstick Government Solutions, Inc.
Hyperwave
IBM
IceWEB
Learn.com, Inc.
Meridian KSI
mGen, Inc.
Open Text Corporation
Plateau
SkillSoft
Synaptis
TANDBERG
VCampus Corporation
VERTEX Solutions
Web Crossing, Inc.
Windwalker Corporation
My father actaully told me about it. But I just blew him off. You know I may get him a blog on here. Let him do some reseach or something. I'll be researching these companies later in the week.
Link posted by JVMM : 4:25 PM
New blogs
I found a bunch of new blogs. Most of them are quoting Gatto and that unlearning stuff. It seems like they all want to gear up and do something but they can't get off the pot. I feel like the entire community realizes that something is totally askew in their approaches. I think they are all off except for the video game technology that some people are looking into. You need to check out the DoD and what they are doing as well as this company Skillsnet. They are doing some heavy stuff. I'll see if you can't figure out what they do before I tell you in about 2 hours.
Link posted by JVMM : 3:33 PM
Interesting
This is a nice little diagram that I wish I had 3 years ago. It's based on the Johari window. It helps give learners a better arena in which to play in. It defines all the boundaries of what is needed to get to the final goal. It's a nice building block for anyone's attempt to define knowledge mapping or curricula.
This guy also has more stuff. You can find him under the blogs section to the right. Knowledge-at-work.
"There sure is something elusive, futuristic and a little scary about contemplating what you don't know, you don't know. "
Link posted by JVMM : 2:38 PM
Tha Advantage
I have been on here now all morning. I have been on here and am feeling really good. I'm feeling this way for a couple of reasons.
#1 The people writing these articles have a limited understanding of actual technology and what it can do or how it works. Their IA skills are sometimes unstoppable but their actual udnerstanding of programming all comes second hand.
#2 - You will need to understand Technolology and programming to survive and thrive in this market. You can't just come up with ideas anymore and expect people to carry out your orders like marching soldiers. The visionary will not only carry the plans but the hammer as well.
This hit me while I was trying to populate the tech area.
Link posted by JVMM : 3:12 PM
Mental Mapping
Tim, I remember you being really big into that a long time ago. Anyway this guys article isnt' about it. It's more about IA and how your gut instincts should make more determining factors in how you page looks then anything else. Anyway, that's not the point. He does use your slang of mental mapping, and how people are used to a certain way of doing things all the time. I think customized mapping techniques is a pretty cool idea. Like initially mapping how someone learns and then presenting the information to them in that medium, order, style etc...
Link posted by JVMM : 2:49 PM
Note to Self
All these links are totally pointless unless they are accompanied by brief descriptions. Tomorrow we write descriptions for not only the category but for each individual link as well. That will be a good bit of work. But I think it will totally pay off in the end. What this thing needs, and I can already see it getting extremely big, is a new architecture. Any bright ideas boys. I don't think this little blog is going to hold all of the intentions.
Tim, I also want that diagram that you and I designed a long time ago up here. I don't think it was complete. But when I was there on the weekends trying to do the math for it...some of the numbers actually worked out. Obviously that has more to do with curriculum development than anything.
Link posted by JVMM : 2:39 PM
Video Games
Everywhere I turn they are all doing video games. The DoD has tried to hire some of the best gaming thinkers in the world in order to train their naval pilots and more elite officers in tactical preperation. Here's an article on SIMS and their help in training pilots. I mean we al knew that from way back when with Operation X. That movie with MAtthew Broderick and the Chimanzees. I need to get that book. What was the name Tim? I know I went to B&N one day and they ddin't have it. I need to read that.
Link posted by JVMM : 2:33 PM
Blogs
Apparently there are a plethora of blogs out there. I'm weeding out the weaker ones as we speak.
Link posted by JVMM : 2:27 PM
Smete
Smete is a huge digital library. The big problem isn't the technology. The LMS systems and the ideology behiind them are on a faster moving pace than the actual information needed to populate them. Repositories of information seems to be the largest bottleneck at this point.
Link posted by JVMM : 2:17 PM
Today
I'm cruising looking aroudn looking for my chums out there. I'm cataloging and taking down notes. The sidebar will more than likely be hooked up tomorrow. More later....
Link posted by JVMM : 2:15 PM
Pick Me Up
Ok so now this thing is going to be updated every day with news and comments from around the industry. Hopefully I can find it useful and later, other people can find it useful. Now what I need is a new name for it. I like that "I Kan't Spell" comes up first on google.
Link posted by JVMM : 1:57 PM
